TWO SOULS: INTO THE FIRE ... # 287

TWO SOULS: INTO THE FIRE
# 287
warning...adult content




~
Melody thought for a moment, still feeling that Steve was not wanting to talk about what was bothering him. Ghost was still asleep, so she said, "I can tell you a story, if you want."

Steve raised a shoulder, "Ok, go ahead."

Clearing her throat, Melody began. "It's not a funny one, but I had a dream once...of her...of our mother."

Steve smiled. Another dreamer, just like Ghost...

"Did you know her?" Melody asked.

"No, I didn't, and ...well, never mind," Steve said. Did she forget? Their mother died the same day she and Ghost had been born...or not born...aborted...

"I know it sounds strange, Steve, but I did know her, and so did Ghost"

Frowning, Steve looked over at her. "How can that be?"

She shrugged. "We were part of her...for awhile. There's a place inside us, where she still is. I can sense her, and she comes to me in dreams. She was so pretty." Melody sighed. "She was a rebel, though, and wasn't afraid of anything, except staying there up in the mountains. She wanted out. That's what I know. Ghost told me he knew it, too, even before that journal grandmother gave him. He told me so. He said he talks to her, and sees her spirit sometimes. Those times he goes off by himself...didn't you ever wonder about what he did, alone out there in the woods?" She looked at Steve, and he could feel her eyes boring into him.

He was surprised, as he'd never thought to ask Ghost, before. How could he not have? Those times Ghost would come back, kind of sad, and not wanting to talk, he must have been hurting inside, even more than he realized." He sighed.

"I'm no good at reading signs like that, Melody. I can't usually see below the surface." He shook his head. "It kills me to know this. Why couldn't I have just known what to say to him?" He was disgusted with himself, now, remembering and knowing that Ghost had needed him then, at those times, more than even he could talk about it, or acknowledge it.

"Don't be down on yourself," Melody said. "Most people can't sense these things, but you were there by his side, and that's what really counts."

~
They rode in silence a little while, lost in their own thoughts. Ghost was mumbling something, as he slept. Steve glanced in the rearview mirror at him, hoping his dream would not turn into a nightmare, or day-mare, or whatever you'd call it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something leap into the road, right in front of them.

Melody shrieked, as he braked hard, to avoid hitting the thing. The van skidded a bit, but Steve held it steady, slowing, and pulling over to the side of the road. Ghost had been woken up, and was staring out the front windshield.

"What the hell was that?" Steve asked, his voice raised an octave.

"Oh my, God...oh my, God..." Melody was repeating, with her hand over her pounding heart.

"Y'all ok?" Steve asked them.

"It was a deer," Ghost said, calmly. "I was trying to warn you, right before I saw it in my dream." He paused a second. "It's an omen."

Steve snorted. "Bullshit...it was a crazy old deer. They jump in front of cars all the time...don't mean nothing," he said, but the look on Ghost's face was scaring him, even as he tried to blow the incident off as normal.

"What kind of omen?" Melody asked.

"I don't know, yet," Ghost said, shrugging. "But, it's for Steve."

"Hell no..." Steve said, a bit too loud, but he still had that weird feeling from earlier, and knew Ghost was right.

"Can't omens ever be good ones? How do you know what they mean?" Melody asked.

"I never saw a good one, before," Ghost said. "I don't know what they mean, just later you have be on the lookout, after you see or feel one. Then, you'll know when the thing happens, that that is what it was for."

Steve was shaking his head. That's crazy talk...

"It's not crazy talk, Steve," Ghost said. "You need to be careful for awhile."

"Oooh, that's giving me chills," Melody said, as she rubbed her arms.

Steve eased the van back up onto the road. "I'll be careful, 'cause I'm always careful...no more, no less."

Ghost shrugged. "It's your omen. Do with it what you will," he said. He leaned back, closing his eyes, trying to go back to sleep.

Steve didn't want to admit it, but he was a bit jumpy, now. "Dammit, Ghost, why do you have to say things like that. you know it freaks me out."

Ghost opened one eye, and stared at the back of Steve's head. "Because it's the truth," he said. He didn't know if Steve had heard him or not, because he'd turned the radio on pretty loud. Well, it doesn't matter anyway. I'll be watching out for you, even if you don't believe it...

They continued on their way. Steve kept pushing buttons on the radio, but nothing was suiting the mood he was in. Melody gasped, each time a car passed them, sure it was going to hit them. She kept stepping on imaginary brakes.

"Will you stop that?" Steve finally said. "They aren't going to run into us."

"Sorry," Melody said. "I know, but I can't help it. Ghost got me kinda scared, now, and I just want to be out of this car, and safe in my room."

"Yeah, me too. He has a way of doing that, all cryptic...like he gets some terrible message from on high. Then, half the time he don't even know what he's talking about. It creeps me out. I should be used to it, by now," Steve said.

"Does it come true, what he predicts?"

"Sometimes...most times...but, like he said, you don't know it until later."

"Why can't I do that...see things, hear things, know things?" Melody asked.

"I thought you could," Steve said.

"I can a little bit, but I never thought much about it, or even tried to. Now, I'm all interested in it," she said.

Steve laughed. "Hah, then you've come to the right pace. Ghost can tell some tales, all right. Some are true, some from who knows where, and he'll make you believe it every time.

Melody turned to look in the back seat at her sleeping brother. "I wonder what's going on in that head, right now?"

Steve shrugged. "I don't know, but for sure it's way more interesting than what I see when I'm asleep."

~
Next part coming soon!


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